CLEVELAND — Friday is National Kindergarten Day and Laura Neilon is one of the many kindergarten teachers that educate kindergarteners every day. 

What You Need To Know

  • National Kindergarten Day celebrates the creation of kindergarten

  • Laura Neilon, a teacher at Cleveland Metropolitan School District, is excited for her students to be recognized

  • Her favorite part about teaching kindergarten is to see how much her students grow in a year 

  • She cherishes being a part of their lives and being able to educate them 

“It is crazy, but it is so much fun,” she said.

She said that she has taught other grades, but kindergarten feels like the place she is supposed to be and she gets to make an impact on them daily.

“I get to build the foundation for the rest of their schooling,” she said.

National Kindergarten Day is based on honoring Wilhelm August Fröbel, who is credited for beginning the first ever kindergarten in Germany in the 1800s. Neilon is just excited that her work, and the work of her students, is getting recognized. 

“These kids give 100% every single day and they love being here, so I’m so excited that they are getting recognized and have their own day,” she said.

Neilon said her favorite part about kindergarten and why it is so special to be in that classroom teaching them.

“Kindergarten is so special because they have so much room to grow,” she said.

She lit up when talking about her students and how much they have grown this past year.

“When they come to kindergarten, they don’t know a lot of letters and sounds and by the end of kindergarten they are writing a sentence and it’s like the highlight of my entire year,” she said.

Neilon expressed her love for what she does and being able to help educate her students.